On Saturday, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard were announced as members of the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2025. The duo will also be inducted as members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team, dubbed the “Redeem Team.” Melo’s stats speak for themselves. After winning a national title with Syracuse, Anthony became one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history and one of the most accomplished FIBA players ever. Along with leading the NBA in scoring in 2013, Anthony made six All-NBA teams and was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.
While he spent the first seven and a half seasons of his NBA career with the Denver Nuggets, he also spent six and a half years with the New York Knicks. He left New York seventh in scoring (10,186), third in scoring average (24.7), and set the franchise single-game scoring record (64). By all accounts, Anthony was one of the greatest players in Knicks history. But was he a Top-5 Knick of all time? It wasn’t even a question for Peter Rosenberg on Thursday’s episode of First Take.
“I don’t really see where you’d go,” Rosenberg said regarding ranking Melo. “[Walt] Frazier, [Willis] Reed, [Patrick] Ewing, Melo. I think he’s a Top-4 Knick.” Stephen A. Smith took it a step further, placing Anthony in the Top 3 of all time, though he didn’t specify which of the aforementioned Knicks greats would be leapfrogged.
Frequent First Take guest and yelling enthusiast Chris Russo took issue with Smith’s assessment of Anthony’s place in Knicks lore, referencing historical players to support his argument.
Mad Dog Russo gets on @stephenasmith for saying that Carmelo Anthony is a top-3 Knicks player of all time. pic.twitter.com/hIxdsbTGz2
— Funhouse (@BackAftaThis) April 5, 2025
“I love Stephen A, but here’s another thing that drove me crazy. You can’t put Carmelo Anthony as the third-greatest Knick of all time,” Russo stated on his SiriusXM show. “He forgot about Dave DeBusschere, who won two championships. Carmelo Anthony is not a patch on Dave DeBusschere’s rear-end as far as the Knick fan is concerned. Plus, don’t forget about Earl Monroe, Richie Guerin, Dick McGuire, and Carl Braun. It is not Carmelo Anthony, who didn’t win diddily as a Knick.”
While Mad Dog has a point about DeBusschere and Monroe, who were key players on the 1973 NBA championship team, he may face challenges convincing many NBA fans under 60 that players like Richie Guerin, Dick McGuire, and Carl Braun deserve significant recognition on First Take. Ultimately, it’s a subjective debate influenced by personal values, with legends like Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, and Patrick Ewing remaining untouchable. The discussion about who fills the Top 5 ranks—DeBusschere, Anthony, Monroe, Braun, or Allan Houston (4th in franchise scoring all-time)—continues.
The intriguing question remains: What would be easier for die-hard fan Smith: Naming the five best Knicks ever or the current starting five?